MENTORS & VOLUNTEERS

Daylin Baker (Bookkeeper) recently retired from a wonderful career as a Supervisor/Environmental Regulator for the State of Washington. Her education includes receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Sciences and a Master’s degree in Environmental Management. She has run two of her own businesses and brings a passion for spreadsheets and managing finances to her volunteerism. She believes in giving back through supporting advocacy for those without a voice.

Michael Casey (Writer) is a Maine-based writer currently working on his master’s thesis for creative writing. He intends to use his academic experience in combination with his apprenticeship in marketing copywriting to find the words that best represent the difficult situations disadvantaged populations find themselves in. Michael’s Catholic upbringing instilled in him a respect for religion, and his mother’s career in child advocacy fed his need to challenge unfair or abusive practices.

Vince Cavasin (Marketing Consultant) has been working in marketing-related disciplines since 1995. His company, Value Intersect Consulting LLC, specializes in helping companies rigorously and holistically evaluate interaction points across the entire customer journey. His experience spans product strategy and management, brand building, demand generation, sales enablement, omni-channel marketing communications and omni-channel commerce for companies ranging from small startups to some of the world’s top retailers. Vince lives in Austin with his wife and son.

Lovine Daryanani (Administrative Assistant) was born and educated in the Philippines and now lives in Southern California. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in management. Currently, he is Head of Operations at a medical X-ray company specializing in digital radiology sales, service and repairs. Lovine has always believed in giving back to the community, from serving as Chair and Judge for the Scholarship Committee of the Whitney Foundation for Educational Excellence, to serving as a Senior Friendly Visitor for SCAN Healthcare. Lovine also has always been passionate about helping the less fortunate and has a soft spot for those who are going through a difficult time in their lives, believing that true happiness lies in selflessly giving as opposed to receiving.

Michelle Panchuk is an assistant professor of philosophy at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. She specializes in Philosophy of Religion, Feminist Philosophy, and Metaphysics. Her current research considers religious trauma from a philosophical perspective, especially as it intersects with the problems of “evil,” “divine hiddenness,” and “epistemic oppression.” Michelle is interested in how religiously traumatic experiences can diminish an individual’s capacity for religious practices and engagement with a focus on how marginalized social groups, such as children, LGBTQIA individuals, racial minorities, disabled individuals, and women can be especially vulnerable. In additions to her academic work, Michelle works to raise awareness of the prevalence of religious child maltreatment and assist survivors and religious communities in finding resources they need to move toward healing.

Ada Shido (Researcher) is a high school student from Los Angeles who is studying to become a pharmacist. Although members of her family have very religious backgrounds, their acceptance of different religions, open mindedness, and general philosophies of wellbeing inspires Ada to support a variety of beliefs.

Ryan Stollar (Social Media) is an advocate for children and abuse survivors. He has run numerous social media campaigns and accounts for nonprofit organizations, including the Coalition for Responsible Home Education and Homeschool Alumni Reaching Out. Homeschooled from kindergarten through high school graduation, Ryan served over 8 years as a public communications educator to high school students within homeschooling communities. He has a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Gutenberg College and an M.A. in Eastern Classics from St. John’s College. He is certified in Mental Health First Aid by the National Council for Behavioral Health. He is also currently pursuing a Masters of Human Services in Child Protection from Nova Southeastern University. His advocacy work on behalf of homeschooled students has been featured in national and international media and academia including The Guardian, The American Prospect, CQ Researcher, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post, Georgetown Law Journal, Texas Observer, New Yorker, ProPublica, and Oxford University Press.

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

—Kahlil Gibran

We never really tell kids what [church] services are all about. All they're told is to be quiet and not talk for an hour. . . . There's the plight of the four-year-old who was in church on Sunday when the wine and wafers were passed out. His mother leaned over and told him that he was not old enough to comprehend the transubstantiation and that he was not allowed to partake in the Communion. Later, the collection plate came by and stopped dead in front of him. His mother again leaned over and tried to coax the nickel out of his clenched fist. He held firm and shouted, “If I can't eat, I won't pay.”

—Erma Bombeck

Like many dynamic institutions, religion can be a source of great evil or unparalleled good. When we grasp God's grace -- or better, when we discover that we have been grasped by that grace -- it makes all the difference for us, and for our children.

—Mark Galli

A connected and educated populace . . . is bound to be disabused of poisonous beliefs, such as that members of other races and ethnicities are innately avaricious or perfidious; that economic and military misfortunes are caused by the treachery of ethnic minorities; that women don't mind to be raped; that children must be beaten to be socialized; that people choose to be homosexual as part of a morally degenerate lifestyle; that animals are incapable of feeling pain..

—Steven Pinker

This groundbreaking work can help bring us to a new religious moment in which the world's faith traditions uphold the sanctity of the child. . . . The time is ripe for a new covenant with humanity's children, one by which we respect their personhood and honour their
own hearts and minds.